Saratoga '23 Preview: Cody's Wish Looks Ready For Whitney
In a sea of darkness for the horse racing industry in recent years, Cody’s Wish has provided a glimmer of light.
Named after Cody Dorman, a Kentucky teenager who was born with a rare genetic disorder, the son of Curlin has reeled off four straight Grade I victories. At last month’s Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park, Junior Alvarado steered Cody’s Wish to the outside at the top of the stretch before accelerating for an easy 3 1/4 length win. Now, trainer Bill Mott appears ready to stretch out Cody’s Wish for the Whitney Stakes, one of the top races for older horses nationwide.
On Thursday, New York‘s Saratoga Race Course will open a 40-day summer meet that is widely considered the most prestigious in the country. The meet features 71 graded stakes, worth $20.8 million in total purses. The two signature races of the meet, the $1.25 million Travers Stakes and the $1 million Whitney, are among the nation’s leading Grade I stakes each year.
As of Sunday, Cody’s Wish ranked third in TRC’s Global Horse Rankings. Only Equinox of Japan and Golden Sixty of Australia ranked higher.
Cody returns to Saratoga
Born with Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, a chromosomal deletion condition, Dorman is confined to a wheelchair and cannot speak. Through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, he and his family visited Gainsborough Farm in Kentucky five years ago. There, Dorman met an unnamed Curlin foal that had been bred only six months earlier. Upon the introduction, the foal placed his head on Dorman’s lap, initiating a rapport between the two.
Later named Cody’s Wish, the Mott-trained horse upset champion sprinter Jackie’s Warrior in last summer’s Forego at Saratoga. Then, before the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in November, Dorman made a bold prediction through an electric device that allows him to communicate, declaring, “He will win.” Cody’s Wish complied, outdueling Cyberknife by a head for the victory.
Despite his recent prowess, Cody’s Wish has never won at beyond a mile. Contested at 1 1/8 miles, the two-turn Whitney may provide a stiff challenge for the Horse of the Year candidate. Cody’s Wish will likely be challenged by Charge It, Zandon, and White Abarrio, three former Triple Crown entrants. The insertion of the Mott-trained horse in the Whitney arguably represents the top story of the meet.
Belmont rematch in The Travers?
When Arcangelo triumphed in last month’s Belmont Stakes, jockey Javier Castellano found running room along the rail on the far turn and held off a charging Forte to win the third leg of the Triple Crown. The victory made Jena Antonucci the first female trainer to capture a win in the history of Triple Crown racing.
Castellano’s slick move underscores the capabilities of machine-learning trading tools for in-race betting. When Arcangelo hit the mile mark, the Antonucci-trained horse had a live probability of 19% to pull off the win, according to Total Performance Data (TPD), a new in-play service used by British operator Sky Bet. The probability increased to 48% at the quarter-pole before rising again to 67% with an eighth of a mile left.
The data feed couples 1/ST CONTENT’s starting price with TPD’s analytics — such as stride length, stride frequency, and sectional timing — to determine precise in-race odds. At the moment, it is unclear whether New York racing officials will consider the adoption of in-race betting at leading racetracks throughout the state.
Next month, Arcangelo could be joined by Belmont entries Forte, Angel of Empire, and Tapit Trice in the Grade I Travers. If Kentucky Derby winner Mage joins the party, the top five 3-year-olds in the U.S. will be entered in the “Midsummer Derby.” Castellano won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont this spring on different mounts. If both enter The Travers, the Venezuelan jockey will face a difficult decision in several weeks.
Forte, the morning line favorite in the Kentucky Derby, scratched on the day of the race with a foot injury. Despite a strong kick in the Belmont, Forte could not overtake Arcangelo in the deep stretch. Last week, Forte remained as the only 3-year-old U.S. male to rank in the Top 20 of the aforementioned global horse rankings. Mage, meanwhile, has not raced since finishing a disappointing third in the Preakness.
Mirahmadi makes Spa debut
Nicknamed “The Spa” in recognition of the many mineral baths around town, Saratoga will have a new track announcer in 2023. On Thursday, veteran announcer Frank Mirahmadi will make his full-time Saratoga debut. Mirahmadi, a longtime announcer at Santa Anita, first visited the historic racetrack as a fan in 1997.
“The moment I walked into Saratoga, I realized what a special place it was,” Mirahmadi told the Daily Racing Form. “When I walked in there, I never thought to myself, ‘Wow, I’d like to be the race-caller here one day.’ I never thought that would even be a tiny possibility.”
The 2023 Saratoga meet will also be the first for the track since the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) implemented uniform federal drug testing standards in late May. Astute horseplayers will evaluate declining win rates among New York trainers when completing their handicapping duties at the Spa. The sport of thoroughbred racing has been beset by a litany of doping scandals over the last decade.
